December 11, 2008

Do you have a sense of whether more males read your blog than females? I'm just curious. You post a range of topics though which should appeal to both sexes. But I think most of the commenters on your blog have a more "male" vibe to them.

Do you mind running a poll to find the male/female readership of your blog?

ADDED: If you don't think the poll is sufficient proof that the readership here skews male -- 77% of you voted male -- you should see the comments. (Here and on the poll page.)

It gets to the point where Palladian says: "It's beginning to smell like a wrestling mat in here." He's right.

Then Joan says:

I skipped reading the rest of the comment thread -- no apology offered for that -- I just wanted to say the that the 3:1 male-female ratio here explains a good deal of why I spend so much time here. Every so often I make the rounds of the Mommy blogs, but they just don't appeal to me.

This is what comes of growing up with four brothers and a dad who controlled the tv...

The stink continues, and someone mentions rotten fish. That brings out blogging cockroach:

fishdid someone say fish...i adore fishbut i don t adore this threadi have been away a while because tommy scomputer has been brokentommy is the boy whose computer i useanyway i had 3 or 4 funny things thatoccurred to me as soon as i saw this posti was organizing them in my little mind whenwham bamfights broke outcan't think straight with all that going onweird fights broke outnow i can only keep so much in my brainwhich has only 960 cells or soso i ll be back when i can find somebetter space for my materialyou know how i am so picky

96 comments:

To address her point, you should probably have two polls, one for people who generally just read and one for people who read and routinely and at least often comment. It may be the case that 90% of readers are male, but your traffic so far outstrips the number of people who comment that it's not a safe assumption that commenters break along gender lines in proportion to readership.

Maybe if we get lucky the Professor will do us one of those "Lady Lawyers of Wisconsin" 2009 Wall Calendars. They could be holding volumes of case law in positions suggesting their clients' innocence from which we could infer their zealous representation of their interests.

I am an elderly female who regularly reads this but when I get ready to comment it seems the majority are high school boys judging by the maturity of their comments. I seldom go ahead and comment because I just don't want to be in the company of the commenter.

"I am an elderly female who regularly reads this but when I get ready to comment it seems the majority are high school boys judging by the maturity of their comments. I seldom go ahead and comment because I just don't want to be in the company of the commenter."

"I am an elderly female who regularly reads this but when I get ready to comment it seems the majority are high school boys judging by the maturity of their comments. I seldom go ahead and comment because I just don't want to be in the company of the commenter."

Simon said..."To address her point, you should probably have two polls, one for people who generally just read and one for people who read and routinely and at least often comment. It may be the case that 90% of readers are male, but your traffic so far outstrips the number of people who comment that it's not a safe assumption that commenters break along gender lines in proportion to readership."

Well, since I am a female who, according to the Gender Analyzer writes more like a male than female on one blog, but more female on another blog, I guess I am skewing the results. Which way...I don't know...I'm so confused.

If I want to get all feminist on it, people have a problem with assertive women and try to put a "male vibe" on them. I have often been addressed in anonymous internet land and he/him because of my writing style. Freeman Hunt, if we didn't know her gender, would also probably be taken for a 'male' writer.

Hey, Oldsons, you know how poor Lucky just can't get enough attention hanging out there in his piss poor excuse for a house with nothing to do. He just HAS to go and make a fool of himself on Althouse's blog.

Jesus! You'd think he'd learned by now. Anyway, Lucky, if you'd like a break, I'll treat you to dinner at the casino here in Cabezon tomorrow night. Whaddaya say, bro?

Of course not. No lawyer worth salt asks a questions to which he or she doesn't already know the answer.

As to the poll: Count me a non-participant, on account of its stupidity due to obviousness. Puh-leeze. If there ever was a question or controversy about this--and, truthfully, I don't see how or why--it has to date back four-ish years, anyway, even if one were to be pinched and ungenerous about timelines.

Perhaps the small question is due to a narrow ability to determine/find out for oneself.

Lawgiver, You really shouldn't pay my cousin Luckyoldson too much mind. All he's got left after the breakdown is to come onto these blogs and insult people, calling them "assholes" and such. He can't help it. The doctors tried, but what with the budget cuts and all, they can't really put him on the meds he needs. I keep telling him to take the blue pill three times a day to keep him from seeing those snakes, but he sometimes forgets, and, well, you see the problem.

Anyways, I will pick him up tomorrow and feed him a good dinner, which usually helps.

Lucky, You really shouldn't say things like that to people. Your group at the clinic will be there for you tomorrow. I think you're supposed to meet at 3:45. I'll take you out to a nice dinner afterwards, and it will be OK.

I skipped reading the rest of the comment thread -- no apology offered for that -- I just wanted to say the that the 3:1 male-female ratio here explains a good deal of why I spend so much time here. Every so often I make the rounds of the Mommy blogs, but they just don't appeal to me.

This is what comes of growing up with four brothers and a dad who controlled the tv...

Sorry, chickenlittle and everybody else who might be normal reading this blog. You see, my cousin, Luckyoldson, coming on as "Michael," has been having his "problem" again. I keep telling him to be sure to take the blue pills 3 times a day, but sometimes he doesn't listen.

I'm going to pick him up and feed him a good dinner tomorrow night, and make sure he has his meds. That should help.

In the meantime, please pay him no mind. When he's on his meds, he's the sweetest guy in the world. But when he's off them, he starts in like you see.

Next thing could happen is he starts in about the snakes again. I'll try to nip that in the bud, even if I have to leave work and drive over to his house.

fishdid someone say fish...i adore fishbut i don t adore this threadi have been away a while because tommy scomputer has been brokentommy is the boy whose computer i useanyway i had 3 or 4 funny things thatoccurred to me as soon as i saw this posti was organizing them in my little mind whenwham bamfights broke outcan't think straight with all that going onweird fights broke outnow i can only keep so much in my brainwhich has only 960 cells or soso i ll be back when i can find somebetter space for my materialyou know how i am so picky

Let her cool. She can become very hot. One sure fire way to never want to do this again is to burn yourself. Let her cool for 45 minutes to an hour. Install new O-rings on the power steering fluid pipes. Connect the fluid pipes to the rack and pinion. See if the oil smells good. Torque the lower pressure line to 20 to 29 foot pounds. Torque the high pressure line to 11 to 18 foot pounds. Jack her up. Open the hood. Now crawl up under her and find the oil pan and drain plug. It is located in different spots but generally speaking it is on the bottom. It should be right in front of you. Take your socket with you and find the one that fits. Line up the lower steering joint with the pinion shaft, then install the joint to the shaft. Tighten the bolt to 17 to 22 foot pounds. Replace the hole cover and torque the fasteners to 36 to 43 inch pounds. Loosen the bolt, or plug. Have your oil pan ready, as when you release the bolt far enough, oil will pour out. Once all the oil has drained, usually 5-10 minutes. See the kind of shape she's in. You need to locate the filter and do the same with it. Sometimes they can be tricky not to make a mess with. Just do your best. Reconnect or install all the remaining components in the reverse order of removal. Torque the tie rod end nuts to 22 to 29 foot pounds and then put a new cotter pin in place. Put your new filter back on and insert the drain bolt/plug back in. Give her some stick. Tighten it fairly tight. Set the rack and pinion in position and set the mounting brackets in place. Torque the nuts in sequence to 54 to 72 foot pounds. Put the the front stabilizer in place. Replace the engine mounting center member and fasten the bolts to 57 to 72 foot pounds. Torque the bolts on the engine mounts to the center member to 57 to 72 foot pounds and then remove the support from the engine. Fill the power steering reservoir and then bleed the the lines. Check the front end alignment and adjust her as needed. Touch her on the seat. Feel the fur.

Freeman Hunt: I don't think it's fair to imply that all the men made it smell like a locker room in here when Michael posted over half the comments.

I came back this morning intending to read the thread, but when I saw how many posts were by Michael I didn't bother. Ick.

Bearing: I've mommyblogged myself from time to time, and I have nothing against moms or kids or mommybloggers. It's just that blogs exclusively focusing on kids and family don't hold my interest very well -- and I'm a Catholic former software developer currently pursuing my teaching certification. I'd much rather talk about politics, religion, economics, travel, media/entertainment, fashion, or cooking, which explains why I'm here. Althouse has a great mix of topics and lively commentary.

Michael, for the record when I was in high school I was an avid Democrat. I got older and I learned better. Republican men rock! Or totter at my age. But older and wiser is what I am and when you grow older if you look at your posts you WILL be embarrassed. And as for welcome to the internet I've been using a computer since the first Kaypro came out with CPM. I know the internet, it is an old friend of mine.

Bearing: I've mommyblogged myself from time to time, and I have nothing against moms or kids or mommybloggers. It's just that blogs exclusively focusing on kids and family don't hold my interest very well -- and I'm a Catholic former software developer currently pursuing my teaching certification. I'd much rather talk about politics, religion, economics, travel, media/entertainment, fashion, or cooking, which explains why I'm here. Althouse has a great mix of topics and lively commentary.

Ditto all that above and the great mix of topics. I have two blogs that neglect on a regular basis. One is more political or general topics (where the program I linked earlier thinks I'm male) and the other is about recipes and food (where the program thinks rightly that I'm female).

BTW: the program thinks it is 70% likely that Althouse is written by a man. LOL

I'm not especially interested in mommyblogging and tend to gravitate to economic and political blogs with some fun stuff like Neatorama thrown in. I'm a Catholic stock broker/financial advisor/insurance planner.

Forgot to mention - while I was at the Guy Pride parade at Home Depot this morning I inquired about the availability of a cordless 18 volt "male vibe" Althouse mentioned in the header at the top of this topic.

Seems that way to me, too, knox. Also seems like we haven't had a full blown invasion of the nasty in a while. I think this is the longest period I've gone in years without getting fed up and moving on for a while. I'm liking both trends.

It is always amusing how Luckyoldson hates everyone who posts on this blog but has to comment over and over again. He is beyond tiresome and no one should indulge him with a response. He is just like Paula Abdul's stalker; unfortunately we can not count on him killing himself.

I actually found a blog once that I sort of liked but it was so rudely male I couldn't tolerate it.

To put that into perspective... I enjoy Ace of Spades.

From many years of usenet news and blogs and whatever else, I've come to the conclusion that I can't tell a person's gender by what they write or how they write it. I've often enough had people assume I was male, so obviously I'm not the only one who can't tell.

That said... I think that part of why I enjoy this on-line interaction is that I really don't care if I piss people off. Well, I do try to get along, but it's not at all like RL when I often found myself not talking about what interested me because I wasn't *sure* that the ladies I was talking to would find it interesting as well, or if it would be off-putting. The only really safe subject was a sort of RL "mommy-blog" range of conversational subjects. It was the one thing I could know, absolutely, that was something I had in common with the other ladies I knew from church or the neighborhood or with their kids at the park.

And maybe it's a "girl" thing to want to avoid conflict. At least that's what they always say, right? I know that on the homeschooling newsgroups I was on for many years there were some women who just really *really* could not tolerate conflict.

And I will say that on "girl" blogs (yes, liberal feminist girl blogs... do conservative girl blogs count as girl blogs?) even mild argument on my part is usually removed. Even with the all the "this is my opinion" qualifiers, disagreement is removed. So I don't generally bother.

Trooper York:Not to worry, I am in a wilderness surrounded by cougars, wild hogs and coyotes, only real men get in here.Also I Have a Tiger in my Lifeboat.I like to read and comment when commenters are making legitimate points, whether I agree with them or not, it's the thought that counts.